On the tee with Verle

A tearful moment in this year's Masters came when Jack Nicklaus, a master of the game of golf, bid farewell after playing his final round at the Masters. And the 65-year-old says it's for good.

Just last year Arnold Palmer, 75, another master of the game of golf, played his last round at the Masters. Unlike Palmer, Nicklaus never wanted a ceremonial sendoff at Augusta National. He had planned to make 2004 his last year, preferring not to play if he wasn't competitive. But he was urged to come back one more time by chairman Hootie Johnson a few weeks after the tragic drowning death of his 17-month-old grandson, Jake.

Jack will return for the annual champions dinner in the Augusta National clubhouse, he said. He may even give the par-3 tournament a try. Nicklaus did say he would consider playing the course Tuesday or maybe Wednesday if a group of older former champions were invited to play from a shorter set of tees. "Just let the champions play as a group and let people say, thanks for being here," Nicklaus said. This would give former champions like Palmer, Billy Casper, Gary Player and the rest the opportunity to come back every year and play.

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There never has been a golfer like Jack Nicklaus, and he is unique in so many ways that it is difficult to imagine there ever will be. There was a time when nobody played better. Certainly not at the Masters where Nicklaus won six of his 18 majors, two more green jackets than Palmer. Nicklaus was the first to win the Masters in consecutive years.

Nicklaus is considered by most players, writers, fans and analysts to be the greatest golfer who ever played the game. Among his 20 major tournament wins, the Golden Bear displayed a fondness for the Masters, as he claimed a stunning six green blazers. He is also a five-time winner of the PGA Championship, four-time victor in the U.S. Open, and three-time British Open champion.

So the cold record alone is stunning. By the spring of 1986, when Nicklaus was 46 and had been playing professionally for a quarter of a century, he had won, at 20, six more major championships than anyone else, not to mention the most money. Nicklaus had been winning with sub-par scores in some arena or other since the age of 14, and he had won all over the world. His most spectacular win was the 1986 Masters, his sixth, after a dozen major-less years. By the end of that twenty-fifth season, out of 100 majors Nicklaus had played as a professional he had won 18, finished second in 19, and third in nine, meaning that he had finished in the top three almost half of the times he had tee it up. His overall total of victories in his own country was an amazing 71, and his worldwide total a staggering 89.

As a dominating amateur at Ohio State, the big Bear won an NCAA title in 1961 and two U.S. Amateur Championships in 1959 and 1961. As a senior golfer, Nicklaus has garnered 10 Senior Tour victories.

Among the super champions of golf only Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Tiger Woods have concentrated as well as Jack Nicklaus, and one has to believe that it was from the same source - perfectionism - that drew their similar powers of concentration. The 2005 Masters win by Woods was his 9th major and puts him on Nicklaus' career pace that produced 18 professional majors. Woods trails only Nicklaus and Walter Hagan (11), tied with Ben Hogan and Gary Player.

Both Woods and Nicklaus had dry spells and if Woods wants to keep pace, the next five years will be crucial. Nicklaus won seven of the next 22 majors after ending his dry spell, including multiple-major seasons in 1972 and 1975.

However, Nicklaus has long believed that his record of 18 major championship wins will some day be surpassed. But his six Masters triumphs? "Just wondering what he was smoking," Woods said on what he thought when Nicklaus said Woods might win more green jackets than Nicklaus and Palmer combined.

Woods has won as many majors (9) as the next four players in the world ranking combined - Vijay Singh (3), Ernie Els (3), Phil Mickelson (1) and Retief Goosen (2).

Still, Nicklaus at his best was the longest controlled driver of the ball in the game's history. He was the most powerful consistently accurate long-iron player there has ever been. No golfer since the Scots founded the game has been able, when necessary, to hit the ball as high with the power clubs, which was the key to his ability to hold the firm greens on which major championships are traditionally played.

In addition to his unparalleled play, the Golden Bear has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the world's great golf-course architects.

Journalist Herb Graffis also is quoted as saying, "Jack Nicklaus has done a number of very smart things in his life, but the smartest thing he ever did was marry Barbara."

When Jack and Barbara Nicklaus were married in 1960, they traveled from Ohio for a honeymoon in the New York City area. At the time, Barbara said she knew what she was getting herself in for when the wedding had to be scheduled to avoid any of the major amateur golf events played in the spring and summer. After spending some time shopping and going to the theater in the Big Apple, they made a tour of the area's great courses, beginning at Winged Foot and winding up at Pine Valley, where Barbara had to watch from a parked car outside a fence because it was one of the days when women weren't allowed on the grounds.

Greater love hath no woman!

After playing his final round at the 2005 Masters, his 45th, Nicklaus wiped a tear and waved good-bye to the fans. He along with Palmer will be missed.